JaVale McGee Unhappy With Benchings

JaVale McGee committed a horrendous foul against the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday night, which resulted in him getting benched for large portions of the game. Following yet another Wizards loss last night, McGee explained his frustration with head coach Randy Wittman’s playing time decisions. From the WaPo: “After he bit on a pump fake, left his feet and fouled Milwaukee center Drew Gooden on a three-pointer with one second left in the first half on Tuesday, JaVale McGee had to wait nearly 29 minutes of game action before he got the chance to play again for the Wizards. Coach Randy Wittman reacted to McGee’s silly foul in Milwaukee by placing his hands upon his head and gritting his teeth. Then he decided to let McGee and the rest of his teammates know that the Wizards needed to do more than play; they need to play with a purpose. And certain actions weren’t going to be tolerated. He benched McGee for the rest of the second half, then put Kevin Seraphin in at starting center against the Orlando Magic. McGee scored nine points and grabbed six rebounds in a season-low 16 minutes in the Wizards’ 102-95 loss on Wednesday. But McGee still doesn’t know what he is supposed to learn from this experience yet. ‘I can’t say I do, but I’m sure I’ll figure it out sooner or later,’ McGee said after the game. […] McGee couldn’t hide his disgust when he wasn’t allowed to battle Magic center Dwight Howard down the stretch. ‘I would like to have a chance to be on the floor, but I wasn’t, so I had to make what was given to me,’ McGee said. ‘Just frustrations with losing and just not being able to play. It wasn’t anything that serious.’ McGee makes spectacular plays and is having a career season, but his defensive lapses also frustrated Wittman’s predecessor, Flip Saunders. With his athletic gifts, McGee can sometimes mask his errors on defense by recovering for blocked shots, but Wittman has talked about accountability ever since taking over. Wittman said he spoke with McGee and Nick Young, who also was benched, after the game. He explained that he had to reward Seraphin and Jordan Crawford for how they performed in helping the Wizards come back from a 22-point deficit and nearly pulling out a win in Milwaukee. When asked what they discussed specifically, McGee said, ‘That’s between me and him.’”